Images from Theft! A History of Music courtesy of Jennifer Jenkins, James Boyle, and Keith Aoki

Why did Plato argue that remixing should be banned by the state? What threats did jazz and rock ‘n roll pose? And what does all of that mean for the conflicts between artists and copyright today?

Those are the questions Jennifer Jenkins, James Boyle, and Keith Aoki answer in layman-friendly language in Theft! A History of Music, a graphic novel expected next spring. The three have a previous comic book, Bound by Law, which (like Theft!) attempts to translate complex legal concepts to make them accessible to a wider audience through a friendlier format.

Jenkins described the current state of things as the “music wars.” We witness this as a battle between those pirating and remixing without authorization against the record companies that are resorting to legal means to try to sustain their increasingly obsolete business model. But according to Jenkins, “Research shows that both are inaccurate and ahistorical. The history of music can teach us a lot about today’s debates.”

And when she says history, she really means history. Her earliest example is Plato, who wrote in The Republic:

Music and gymnastic (must) be preserved in their original form, and no innovation made. They must do their utmost to maintain them intact. And when anyone says that mankind must regard…

The newest song which the singers have,

they will be afraid that he may be praising, not some new songs, but a new kind of song; and this ought not to be praised, or conceived to be the meaning of the poet;

for any musical innovation is full of danger in the whole State, and ought to be prohibited.